The Powwow Guy

When I was a kid, along with my brother and sister, we were practically raised by our grandparents. They were Pennsylvania German through and through. My grandfather mixed German words with English. He literally built the house he lived in. My grandmother had her own vegetable garden and spent most of her day in the kitchen. They were both hard workers and had acres and acres of land that we kids played in for our entire childhood.

As we got older, so did our grandparents, and eventually they passed from this world. This was devastating for us on so many levels. As if these losses weren't enough, our father immediately sold the land and house that my grandparents had worked so hard on for so many years. Our childhood home and land were ripped from our hands and our lives, along with our grandparents themselves. It was (and remains) a trauma that I still have not recovered from.

When I first discovered what Powwow was, it reminded me so much of the lifestyle of my grandparents. NO, they were NOT Powwowers. However, their lifestyle was so much of what I feel Powwow embodies. They believed in God. They lived in tune with their land. They worked hard. They loved their family. And it was a great childhood.

Powwow, for me, is like connecting with that life again. It touches on that piece of my soul that I thought was lost when my grandparents passed. 

I have studied the academia and history of Powwow probably more than is healthy for me, and that's how I know what Powwow really is and what it really is not.

Do I take it too far? Oh, absolutely. I recognize this zealous protection of this tradition within myself. And yet, I don't apologize for this. 

I think the things that are precious to us, and to our culture and history, are worth preserving. And to that end, I will always speak out against those who see to twist our history, add lies to our culture, and make this beautiful tradition something other than what it really is.

I honestly do not care if someone wants to pick up Powwow and twist it to their own neopagan uses. The thing that bothers me is the lies they tell about out history. 

Powwow means more to me than anything else I've ever learned about in my life. I love this tradition and will always do my best to adhere to it's historical and cultural truth. It's true that there are some things that I do that aren't historical, but I will ALWAYS state that such things are either a modern invention or something that I have personally added that didn't exist historically. Our culture deserves this much.

I adhere to tradition as best I can. This has caused many ruffled feathers over the years, but that's OK. This has become my life's passion and my life's work. I have literally devoted the last two decades to sharing every scrap of information I've learned with the public so that our culture's tradition can survive into the future.

May God bless you in all that you do.